Date: Wed, 10 Feb 99 21:16:33 -0500
From: NGLTF
Subject: Organizations Jointly Oppose Death Penalty
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ASTRAEA NATIONAL LESBIAN ACTION FOUNDATION
GAY MEN OF AFRICAN DESCENT
INTERNATIONAL GAY & LESBIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION
LAMBDA LEGAL DEFENSE & EDUCATION FUND
LESBIAN & GAY COMMUNITY SERVICES CENTER - NEW YORK
LESBIAN & GAY RIGHTS PROJECT - ACLU
LLEGO - NATIONAL LATINA/O LGBT ORGANIZATION
NATIONAL CENTER FOR LESBIAN RIGHTS
NATIONAL GAY AND LESBIAN TASK FORCE
NEW YORK CITY GAY & LESBIAN ANTI-VIOLENCE PROJECT
OUTFRONT MINNESOTA
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 10, 1999
Organizations Jointly Oppose Death Penalty
Groups representing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
people speak out against capital punishment
Today 11 major organizations representing lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender communities announced their joint opposition to
the death penalty.
The issue came to the forefront in the gay, lesbian, bisexual
and transgender communities with the upcoming trial of those
accused of beating Matthew Sheppard to death in Wyoming. The two
men, Aaron James McKinney and Russell Arthur Henderson, both 21,
were arrested and accused of his murder. On December 28,
Prosecutor Cal Rerucha filed notices of intent to seek the death
penalty against both men.
Katherine Acey, Executive Director of the Astraea National
Lesbian Action Foundation said: "The death penalty has no place
in a civil society. As a community we must take every opportunity
to speak out against violence, including capital punishment."
Kevin McGruder, Executive Director of Gay Men of African Descent
said: "The death penalty is applied in an inequitable way and
when factors of race, sexual orientation and income are taken into
account, there is even more inequity. Mistakes happen and innocent
people are sentenced to death. In those circumstances where the
sentence has been carried out, the mistake cannot be reversed."
Julie Dorf, Executive Director of the International Gay & Lesbian
Human Rights Commission said: "Human rights are not a euphemism
for gay rights. We cannot pick and choose human rights," she added.
"The death penalty is wrong in all cases."
Kevin M. Cathcart, Executive Director of the Lambda Legal
Defense & Education Fund said: "Lambda deals daily with the legal
system's fallibility and the effects of bias on court decisions.
With this experience, we oppose the death penalty as a harsh and
irreversible use of government power."
Richard Burns, Executive Director of the Lesbian & Gay Community
Services Center of New York said: "This is one of those moments
when we, as a community, should lead. We consider this a teachable
moment." Burns said the death penalty is no way to deal with
anti-gay violence, "The answer to homophobic violence is not more
violence, it is education," he said.
Matt Coles, Director of the ACLU Lesbian and Gay Rights Project
said: "The American Civil Liberties Union opposes the death
penalty for those who murdered Matthew Sheppard just as we oppose
the death penalty for all people - because our system of justice
is incapable of imposing it equally, because our system makes
mistakes and always will and because the ACLU believes that the
state simply should not have the power to take away human life."
Martin Ornales-Quintero, Executive Director of LLEGO - National
Latina/o LGBT Organization said: "Killing a homophobe will not
kill homophobia."
Kate Kendall, Executive Director of the National Center for
Lesbian Rights said: "There are few facets of our criminal
justice system more deeply flawed than the death penalty. It
has been repeatedly demonstrated that rather than deterring
violence or curbing crime, the death penalty instead stands
as a most extreme example of the race and class bias which
pervades much of our society."
Kerry Lobel, Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian
Task Force said: "We join our colleagues today to oppose the
death penalty with a unified voice. We participate in a social
movement that places faith in the possibility of change. Capital
punishment, a final and hopeless solution to the social problem
of violence, not only subverts the possibility of individual
change but it also fails to solve the problem of violence. Hate
crimes laws, on the other hand, recognize that classes of people
become terrorized by violent acts against individuals. Hate crime
laws draw attention to that problem and offer at least one
solution: criminal justice resources directed toward educating
and deterring the domestic terrorism of bias crime."
Richard Haymes, Executive Director of the New York City Gay &
Lesbian Anti-Violence Project said: "AVP unconditionally opposes
the death penalty. As a victim services agency dealing with the
physical and psychological aftermath of hatred against the lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender and HIV-positive community - our community
- AVP understands full well the thirst for vengeance that heinous
bias crimes often engender in the victim, his or her loved ones, and
the community at-large. However, as a human rights organization,
struggling for justice for our people, AVP also views capital
punishment as an act of state-sanctioned violence - an act that is
no more or less violent than the barbaric acts of our attackers -
and we unequivocally oppose violence in every form, regardless of
the perpetrator."
###
For additional information, resolutions and/or position papers
from each of the organizations regarding the death penalty, contact:
Astraea National Lesbian Action Foundation
Katherine Acey (212) 529-8021
Gay Men of African Descent
Kevin McGruder (212) 414-9344
International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission
Sydney Levy (415) 255-8680
Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund
Peg Byron (212) 809-8585
Lesbian & Gay Community Services Center of New York
Dan Willson (212) 620-7310
Lesbian & Gay Rights Project-ACLU
Matt Coles (212) 549-2627
LLEGO-National Latina/o LGBT Organization
M. Ornales-Quintero (202) 466-8240
National Center for Lesbian Rights
Kate Kendall (415) 392-6257
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
Tracey Conaty (202) 332-6483 x3303
New York City Gay & Lesbian Anti-Violence Project
Richard Haymes (212) 714-1184
OutFront Minnesota
Ann DeGroot (612) 822-0127 x107
For additional comment:
Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum/Congregation Beth Simchat Torah
(212) 929-9498
_____________________________________________________________________
Founded in 1973, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force works to
eliminate prejudice, violence and injustice against gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgendered people at the local, state and national level.
As part of a broader social justice movement for freedom, justice and
equality, NGLTF is creating a world that respects and celebrates the
diversity of human expression and identity where all people may fully
participate in society.
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